A glimpse of the future of newspapers

IF you haven't heard by now, The Brunei Times have just recently launched its own iPad app for the masses last week, and me and the Mobiletech columnists have become the poster boys for its ad. This marked another milestone for our newspaper in this new era of media consumption electronic devices (the app, not the ad).

Now this app is a keeper for all iPad touting souls in Brunei, because first and obvious, it's a free app (who doesn't like free stuff?) Secondly, this app gives you direct access to our e-papers, all stacked nicely in a newsstand-like skin. So no more excuses if you've missed today's edition because now you've got instant access to them, whenever and wherever (Internet connection required).

The app downloads the digital copy of The Brunei Times which is in fact, the exact copy of the printed ones. You've normally done this by clicking our e-paper feature on our website, where you could glance through our pages the way it was meant to be laid out on our prints.

Of course, anyone can just fire up a browser app on the ipad and read the news straight out of our website, but let's face it, some of us still prefer reading the traditional layout of the newspaper in digital format, and what better way to read them in all its glory than on your iPad?

I remember when The Brunei Times e-paper was first launched some three years ago (I was a junior reporter back then), I knew that from the beginning such a breakthrough feature would have so much potential to take our newspaper into the paperless direction over time.

Then a year later, the iPad came along and introduced to the world so many possibilities, one of which was the ability to take reading the news from the computer monitor to the comfort of a tablet device. This makes sense because we are accustomed to read our books, magazines and of course, newspapers this way.

But the initial problem with the e-Paper was that it was a Flash format and unless you're carrying an Android-based device, you can't run them on any iDevices.

So we have taken a step forward with this app by giving our readers the ability to read the news as it should be, minus the non eco-friendly printing and black thumbs you get from flipping the fresh printed pages.

Furthermore, we are giving you a taste of how reading newspaper feels like in the near future.

I applaud our IT department for doing a great job in bringing our paper in the forefront of new technology (we're expecting an Android version as well, right boys?)

But this is just the beginning. There are many possible ways the app can evolve from what it is now. Whereas the e-paper is as flat and lifeless as its printed counterparts, tomorrow's app should enrich your newsreading experience with interactive media content.

When the iPad was first launched in 2010, it demonstrated and launched The New York Times app, and it gave us a glimpse on how digital newspapers can strive on tablet devices.

It's all about the interactivity beyond swiping the next page and zooming into a paragraph; the ability to watch a video clip that is imbedded in the article you're reading, the ability to share the news article to your social hub, give your response and engage with other readers in the same article, etc.

Other existing news apps have demonstrated this such as Pulse and Flipboard, and I don't see why The Brunei Times app will not go to this direction in the future.

The views expressed by the author are his own and do not reflect the views of The Brunei Times.

The Brunei Times